Page 23 of Unhallowed Murder (A Paranormal Halloween #2)
Chapter Twenty
Josef listened to Griffin’s confession through Corey’s mind, since he was managing what they called the viewing room, and was the person speaking into Lieutenant Woods’ earpiece.
She must’ve started shortly before he awakened, and he’d moved things along a few times — made Griffin see blood on his hands once, and gave him brief flashes of his nightmares a couple of times.
Ronnie had food brought in at seven that evening, and she finally left the tiny little room a little after ten. When they were finished, she had a spoken confession of all seventeen murders, and then the bastard had signed seventeen sheets of paper, admitting to the murder of each woman .
Josef waited until she left the room to telepath her.
Can you hear me.
Yes.
Let me come pick you up? You need sleep.
Give me a few minutes and I’ll call you on my phone.
He stayed in Corey’s head, saw her step into the viewing room, saw her team give her high fives.
Perry, their resident seasoned detective, looked at her appraisingly, as if making sure she was okay.
For that matter, they all did, each in their own way — the ex-marine, the psych major, even the geek. Her team was concerned.
It isn’t often one encounters evil, and she’d needed to be friendly and nice to the murdering son of a bitch to get the entire confession. It was no wonder so many detectives drank. You can’t just shake that kind of thing off.
“I’m fine,” she told her men. “I need to get my phone from my office and make a personal call. Graham’s going to get this one, too, but I’m okay with that. Micah Griffin will die in jail.”
“This is why you get the big bucks,” Henderson joked. She rolled her eyes at him, but then Corey turned back to the computer and Josef could only hear them.
“The commander watched for nearly an hour,” Myers told her. “We had lots of other visitors, too. You sure you’re okay? I’m not sure I am, and I didn’t have to play nice with the motherfucker. ”
“I need to bleach my brain, but yeah. I’ll be okay. I’m headed to my office, if anyone needs me, catch me in the next ten minutes because I’m about to leave.”
“You want to go somewhere for drinks?” Myers asked.
“Not tonight.”
She walked out, and Josef stayed put in Corey’s head. He wanted to know what they said after she left.
“If it was anyone else, I don’t think I’d let them walk out of the building alone,” Sergeant Perry said.
“I still don’t really want her to,” said Myers, “but I doubt we can stop her.”
“I’d contact the Commander if I thought she wasn’t handling it,” Carter said, leaned against a wall. “She’s fine, but I have no idea how. I wasn’t in that room, and I’m with you — I’ll be okay, but I’m not right now. I’ll go down the street for that drink, if you want.”
“No one can be expected to be okay after hearing that,” said Perry. “We’ll process it and put it behind us, same as always. It’s what we do. I’ll have a drink with ya’ll, too.”
Josef’s phone rang, and he pulled out of Corey’s head.
“ Bellula .”
“Do you want to come in and meet my team, or do you just want to pick me up in the parking lot?”
“They’re worried about you. I should come in and ease their minds.”
“Okay. I’ll tell the front desk to send you up.”
* * * *
Ronnie let her hair down and pulled a jacket from her wardrobe.
She grabbed a chocolate bar from her desk, and sat and ate it, eyes closed.
Two minutes of dark silence while eating chocolate gave her the strength to step back into her murder room.
Carter and Myers were in there, sitting at their desks, typing — no doubt catching up on things they’d missed while watching her with Griffin.
The elevator dinged and everyone looked up. A uniformed deputy walked Josef into the room, both of them loaded down with boxes of food. Her mouth watered and her stomach growled.
“I brought Buffalo wings, cheese sticks, fried mushrooms, and a couple of pizzas with every kind of meat except anchovies. I assume you’re hungry, and figured your team would be, too.”
Ronnie smiled. He knew how to get cops to like him — feed them.
“Call everyone,” she told Myers.
The uniformed deputy looked at her, unsure, and she motioned to the boxes. “Take two plates with you, so whoever’s on the front desk gets some, too.”
She’d seen the stack of plates he’d brought. There was more than enough.
Josef put everything down and walked to her. “You look tired, Lieutenant.”
“Long day. Josef Romano, Deputy Gabriel Myers and Detective Jamison Carter. Myers, Carter, this is Josef, my… crap. I guess he’s my boyfriend.”
Both of her men looked dumbfounded .
Myers recovered first, and stepped forward to shake his hand. “It’s nice to meet you, Josef. You know this is kind of like meeting all of the big brothers, yes?”
“I gathered. She thinks the world of her team, It’s nice to finally meet you.”
“Finally? How long has she kept you under wraps?”
“Long enough,” Ronnie told them. The elevator dinged and the rest of her team arrived.
Ronnie made herself a plate and let the men do their thing, her exhaustion of earlier not so bad while she watched them gradually accept Josef.
After four plates of food, she stood and walked to him. Her men had grilled the vampire, and he’d graciously held his own. They were discussing college football now, and it was time for her to find a bed.
“Ya’ll polish off the food and clean up,” she told her team. “Josef and I are out of here. If we don’t get called out on a new case, I plan to sleep in. I’ll see ya’ll at ten.”